Growth in Surrey City Centre accellerating

On Friday, an article was published in the Globe & Mail by urban politics and issues writer Frances Bula titled ‘Surrey’s vision for the future is slow in coming‘, shining a spotlight on the city centre’s transformation, that has indeed been slow in coming. Up until now.

A Brief History of Surrey City Centre – 1991-2005

The vision for Surrey’s City Centre is nothing new. The first City Centre Plan was completed back in 1991, and was only just recently updated as of January this year after a lengthy 10-year review beginning in 2006. Looking back at how the city centre has developed since that initial plan’s adoption, it’s clear to see that development through much of the 1990s and 2000’s had been sparse and slow to materialize, sparking the need for a renewed vision to move the city centre forward. Aside from an initial spike in development between 1994-1995, when SkyTrain was first extended to the area, and a total of 7 high-rise towers were completed within a short time span, the decade that followed was markedly different.

Intrawest/Intracorp initially had a master plan for a community around Gateway Station in the early 1990’s which was to include a total of 5 high-rise office towers, and 11 high-rise residential towers. 3 of these residential towers and 1 of the office towers were completed in the 1994-1995 boom, including the 18-Storey signature Station Tower. Following this initial spike, the remaining lands sat vacant for over a decade, until 3 of the initially slated high-rise residential sites were eventually developed as 4-storey condo buildings between 2008-2011. Intrawest/Intracorp has since sold of the remainder of their lands to other developers, with the initial master plan never coming to fruition.

Another 90’s master planned community which was to see a number of towers developed around King George Station saw only 1 tower built in 1994, with the remaining lands sitting vacant for over a decade as well, until eventually being bought and developed in the mid-2000’s – first as Infinity, then later evolving into Concord Pacific’s Park Place.

Completion 1991-1995:

1994: Cornerstone 1 & 2 (Gateway) | 18 & 21-storey condo towers

1994: Station Tower | 18-storey office tower

1994: Odyssey Tower | 21-storey condo tower

1994: Balmoral Tower | 15-storey condo tower

1995: Grandview Court | 16-storey condo tower

1995: Observatory (Gateway) | 22-storey condo tower

In the decade between 1996 and 2005, development in Surrey City Centre was indeed so slow that only 1 tower was built – the city’s iconic, Bing Thom designed, Central City office tower, completed in 2003 as part of a massive redevelopment of former Surrey Place Mall by ICBC into a re-branded shopping centre, TechBC (later SFU) university, and office tower.

Completion 1996-2005:

2003: Central City – 26-storey office tower, university, retail

Surrey City Centre’s Turning Point – 2006-2015

Following a decade of very little development activity which saw only 1 tower built between 1996 and 2005, a total of 4 new high-rise towers were built in Surrey City Centre between 2006 – 2010.

Completion 2006-2010:

2006: Infinity (now Concord Park Place) | 36-storey condo tower

2009: D’Corize | 22-storey condo tower

2009: City Point | 21 and 25-storey condo towers with retail

In the 5 years that followed, development activity grew more. A total of 6 high/mid-rise towers were completed between 2011-2015, along side the new Surrey City Hall, the Bing Thom designed City Centre Library, and Surrey’s new civic plaza which will see future expansion.

Completion 2011-2015:

2011: Park Place | 2 x 36-storey condo towers

2011: Surrey City Centre Library

2013: Ultra | 35-storey condo tower

2013: Surrey City Hall

2014: City Centre 1 | 12-storey office tower

2014: Coast Capital headquarters | 9-storey office tower

2015: Wave | 28-storey condo tower

In total, the 10-year period between 2006 to 2015 saw more development activity in Surrey City Centre than the previous 15 years combined, along with a new civic heart. Following a period of very little growth between 1996 and 2005, a sure sign that the tide may be changing.

2016 and onward

Since the relocation of Surrey City Hall to the city centre in 2013, and the opening of Civic Plaza, investment in the area has markedly picked up, with a long list of active development applications now in process at the city. Following a relatively strong decade of growth between 2006 and 2015, in 2016, Surrey City Centre was showing signs of coming to fruition, and ripe for the adoption of the new Surrey City Centre Plan. In the past year, 2 towers have been completed, with 4 more scheduled for completion in 2017, and an additional 4 scheduled for completion in 2018. In 2017, this will include the iconic new 52-storey 3 Civic Plaza, Mixed-Use (Hotel, Office, Condo, University, Retail), which is already re-defining and transforming the city centre’s core and image. In total the 2016-2020 period will see a total of 12 significant buildings completed, up from 8 in the previous 5 years.

Looking ahead to 2021 and beyond, it is clear to see that the pace of growth in Surrey City Centre is only set to intensify if the number of approved and active development applications are any indication. In total, aside from buildings now under construction and scheduled for completion by 2020, beyond this there are 47 additional towers under active application or known to be in the planning stages in Surrey City Centre. While the timeline for completion of many of these towers is uncertain based on market conditions, it is likely that many will see completion within the next decade, given Surrey’s strong population growth, doubling Vancouver in growth between 2011-2016. While much of this growth has been concentrated in newer developing areas of the city such as South Surrey, South Newton, and Cloverdale, it is reasonable to assume that Surrey City Centre will start to take on a greater share of future growth as it reaches a critical threshold of density (which it appears to be now), and its subsequent image and desiraiblity improves. Combine this with the affordability crisis north of the fraser, and the comparable price of condos, Surrey City Centre begins to become more and more attractive.

With this direction that Surrey City Centre is heading, already a number of major developers in the region have significant land holdings in the area, including projects completed, under application, or in the planning stages.